17. (1) The national language shall be the main medium of instruction in all educational institutions in the National Education System except a national-type school established under section 28 or any other educational institution exempted by the Minister from this subsection.

28. Subject to the provisions of this Act, the Minister may establish national schools and national-type schools and shall maintain such schools.

The key words are “except a national-type school established under section 28 or any other educational institution exempted by the Minister from this subsection.”

More specifically, the operative words are “exempted by the Minister from this subsection.”

The Minister has exempted such schools since then up to now. An exemption may be withdrawn at a time deemed suitable by the powers that be.

We need single-stream schooling, Helen. One system, not three as exist now. Future Malaysians must become totally and fully Malaysian, not a hotch potch of distinctly ethnic and divergent communities, some in London calling themselves Chinese, others in American towns identifying themselves somewhat like the Red Indians having land reservations of sorts.

We need long-term peace and prosperity and the basis for that must be one school for all. No segregation of the young, promote mixing and the building of common hopes and aspirations since small.
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Would you like to say how else we can unite, Helen? Truly unite, future generations having common hopes and aspirations, willing to fight a common enemy together as truly fellow Malaysians, shoot Singapore planes etc in combat, like Malaysian soldiers (you know who) shot Indonesians during the undeclared war called Confrontation in the 1960s.

It’s not right to expect only one community to fight wars for everybody. All Malaysians must have trust on one another in the face of the common enemy. We must reach a stage where we no longer regard one another as belonging to different communities but belong to one and the same Bangsa Malaysia, don’t you think?
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I don’t foresee that we can integrate. On the other hand, I believe that after GE13 & over the next 5 years until GE14, we’re going to get even more polarized (both sides to be blamed) & Chinese sentiment possibly like S’pore in 1965. — Helen

I hope your sentiment is not shared by the majority of the Chinese in this country. If so, it does not augur well for the future of this country. There have been those speaking about integration Thai, Flipino or Indonesian style. We must avoid another May 13 or the likelihood of losing our democratic way of life Fiji-style.

This is exactly the kind of hypocrisy that DAP thrives in and their fanatical supporters and our sorry Alternative Media lap it up without questions.

When they stir up racial and religious hatred using issues like Lina Joy, Kugan, Allah issue, TBH, Article 153,etc etc, they are hailed as courageous fighters for the minorities against the “represssive UMNO/ Malay /Muslim majority”.

But when Utusan or Perkasa brings up the issue of Muslims being converted or Malays being margainalised in Penang, they are accused of being racist for stirring trouble.

Shouldn’t DAP follow PAP if they believe in Malaysian First ? If so they should support the closusre of all vernacular schools and only have national schools.

I am afraid that DAP has poisoned the minds of the Chinese and the community no longer believe in give and take policy but “take it all” policy in the name of meritocracy. DAP does not want equal rights but the rights to take it all for themselves.

All these augurs badly for the nation. If as expected, Pakatan suffers a reverse in the coming GE, one can expect DAP to ramp up their instigations of the Chinese saying they have no longer a future in Malaysia.

The change in the mindset of the Chinese is very obvious and their contempt for the rest of Malaysians is really worrying. They have drunk the DAP’s Kool-Aid and I am afraid they are addicted to this poison.

The choice for the malays…either revert to PPSMI or adopt Bahasa Indonesia…if the Chinese want to hang to mother country lingo ,viz People Republic of China, and the Tamils want their mother country lingo, viz Tamil Nadu..Malys have the same right to create their own mother country, viz Indonesia for them to hang to…so malays should set up sekolah indonesia..like the chinese and Tamils set up vernacular Chinese schools and Tamil vernacular school respectively…

Just heard something about Chinese… Apparently, The Mainland Chinese i.e. from the country name China, some of them do not see Malaysian Chinese, as one of them. For them, Malaysian Chinese is a Malaysian, and not “Chinese” from China.

I’m afraid I don’t understand your last line, OverseasBumi. Wd you like to clarify, pls.

That they consider themselves Chinese in marriage preferences is one thing. But that they are identified by name, dresses etc as Thai, and presumably will fight foreign enemies as Thais, for decades is another.

Thailand is a complicated place. They have their own affirmative action policy. From what I was told , it’s based on geography. Families living outside bangkok are given preferential treatment. Education quotas are granted to students from ‘baan nawk’ (rural) areas.

I’vebeen in Thailand long enough to imagine how Malaysia would be like if we didn’t have NEP policy. I think malaysia would be very similar to Thailand in terms of economic/social disparities.

Thailand is not bad, but it’s not great either. There are stark differences between rich and poor. But Malaysia has this problem too. Malaysia actually scores lower on the GINI coefficient index ! Personally, I don’t trust Thailand’s GINI figure, just like I don’t trust Thailand’s claim that theyhave an unemployment rate of about 1.5%. They score very badly in the corruption index so , to me, it puts a lot of their statistics in doubt. Also, from what I’ve witnessed in the streets and in other ‘changwats’ or provinces the situation doesn’t look that encouraging. Same thing can be said of other Malaysian rural states. But I do think that Georgetown (pre-LGE) is better developed than ChiangMai . That could be my bias.

Thais claim they are ‘integrated’, but I see brown skin thais generally occupying governmetn jobs and chinese thais occupying more private sector jobs. Wealth also appear to be separated along those racial lines. Thai chinese appear to love thailand, but I also know a few who have migrated. But I think all thais agree that they hate the political situation (red shirt vs yellow shirt). Two party systems tend to be very divisive.

They share a religion, but Thai chinese follow guan yin and hence don’ t eat beef. Some Malaysian chiense are similar in that respect. Helen can probably enlighten you on that.

I have spoken to many indigenous thais (brown skin and lighter skinned northerners), and they exhibit some dissatisfaction toward their chinese (or perceived chinese) compatriots. Most don’t want to elaborate why they are dissatisfied. Maybe because thai people are generally meek and they don’t want to criticize others.

Of course, due to similaries in culture and religion, it’s hard to segregate thais by race. Miscegenation is common. But, lighter skinned thais obviously are treated better and featured favorably in all media. Ironically, most ‘farang’ (ie caucasians) who visit or live here prefer the nam-thaan (brown skin) girls.

Although it is known thais are generally nice people, the thing most foreigners remark when working here is that Thais do have issues with respect to skin color. They seem not to like dark skinned people. Indians are discriminated against and most recently africans are discriminated as well.

Having mentioned that, it doesn’t mean historically Thais have the best relations with the chinese. See this link:

It must be mentioned here that in the early 1920s, Thailand had the best primary schools teaching the Chinese language (mandarin as we called it) in Southeast Asia. After the anti-China furor and the rise of Thai nationalism from 1930-1960, Chinese education in Thailand literally was wiped out. Studying Chinese language became illegal. TV programs with Chinese language were banned. Anti-Chinese sentiment was so high that Chinese immigrants used Thai names, pretended successfully to be Thais while maintaining Chinese identities at home.

At least in malaysia we can identify each other based on race and I think it helps address social issues very accurately. I know we will never be ‘united’ like say japan is if a war were to ever break out. But our neighbors have similar issues. Singapore doesn’t trust having Malay commandos in their ranks. They claim that malays would be divided in their loyalties if they had to fight a malay/indonesian adversary. The US army also looks at ethnic and religious backgrounds of their recruits before making battalion assignments. This is the reality of any multi-ethnic country.

Malaysian society, in my view, is like a marriage of convenience. In comparison, Thailand displays greater unity becuase they have socially engineered their people to respect a specific thai institution – the royal family. They stand up to pay respect to the king in movie theaters and some bow their head and make the ‘wai’ gesture with their hands at any image of the king.That shows near divine devotion towards him . Lese majeste laws are used against any individual (even foreigners) who questions or disparages the king, so there is also an element of fear that keeps people in line.

Chinese is relatively well assimilated (or integrated?) in Thailand due to 1) no policy that tend to segregated rather than integrate 2) most Chinese are Buddhist or Taoist 3) many ethnic Thais have partial Chinese ancestry 4) force assimilation policy by Plaek Pibunsongkhram (a half ethnic Chinese).

Racial issue and discrimination happen everywhere and of course in Thailand as well though almost everyone speaks fantastic Siamese and most probably attend one school, that said, do you think the Malay is well integrated in Thailand?

Thanks OB for the response. You are a meaningful participant in this blog, often responding to matters raised with as much information and views as you can manage, some of course being disputed. But that’s democracy in this blog and helen has released both the pro and contra views quite fairly I think.

2-3 points interest me this time:

1. “the anti-China furor and Thai nationalism from 1930-1960, Chinese education in Thailand literally wiped out. Studying Chinese language became illegal. TV programs with Chinese language were banned.” But I don’t think the adoption of Thai names was a passive reaction of the Chinese immigrants, using Thai names and pretending to be Thais. What I read is that they were required by law at that time. The Thai Army General in charge created a “Cultural Police force” that went around beating the immigrants on the streets if they do not speak Thai language and wear clothes Thai style.

2. The Thai Chinese migrating despite having supposedly integrated into Thai society. They could have been encouraged by the fact that there are Chinese almost everywhere on earth, China having overflowed with its 1.2 billion population long ago. They can always find their own kind and not feel too out of place perhaps even in Tumbuktu. This characteristic of the Chinese has perhaps made the overseas Chinese be generally perceived even by the British as a “transient” population, an argument used during the period prior to independence to persuade the Malays to agree to citizenship right for them. It also casts aspersion on the loyalty of the overseas Chinese, including in this country.

3. “most ‘farang’ (ie caucasians) who visit or live here prefer the nam-thaan (brown skin) girls.” I hope only from the cultural angle!

First of all, as a malaysian working in thailand I am still an ‘outsider’ looking into Thai culture and society. I learn by hearing many stories from Thais, such as their aspirations and frustrations. However I can’t say they correctly depict thai society in general. My observations are of course not necessarily reflective of reality and may be biased.

I have observed that Thai Chinese are good at identifying each other 1) because of appearance and 2) because of their names.

Thai chinsese have long thai surnames. I heard when they were forced to adopt thai names, they went all out to ‘out-thai’ the indigenous thais, hence the long surnames which are concatenaations of various shorter thai names and suffixes.

From what I understand, the thai chinese also had to adopt unique names. On their appplication of surnames, i heard some families had to apply a few times, as their names were found to be identical to another adopted name.

A very ‘malay’ looking thai informed me about long thai-chinese surnames upon my arrival to thailand. He wanted me to identify the chinese in the office.

I was actually taken aback by this information, because i didn’t know him well enough. He knew I was malaysian, but I didn’t realize he would think that race was a pertinent subject that needed to be clarified.

I couldn’t differentiate based on race originally upon arrival. But after walking the streets a few times, i could see some were obviously chinese and didn’t have any racial mix with local thais.

I met a thai chinese man who married a brown skinned thai woman. He told me his child, who of course carries his long surname, would come home from school crying because she was teased by her classmates or teachers. This suggested to me that in the school she was discriminated. I’ve seen her, she doesn’t look chinese.

She attends a school outside of bangkok because her father believes that her chances of attending a good university like chulalongkorn is higher. This proves to me that thai chinese emphasis on education is strong, in line with the stereotype.

My interactions with thai chinese business people have indicated that the thai chinese have preference for one anohter. It is not just cultural affinity. In my opinion, it’s deeper. Can’t put my finger on it. Genetic affinity? It certainly helped them gain greater success, even in cases where it was not merited, as I;ve observed.

I know one thai chinese business woman who quit her lucrative cosmetics business to join the government. Would that happen in Malaysia? Doubt it. But she told me she wanted to get the ‘network contacts’. She also hinted that the corruption in the government meant she might make even more money in the long run.

Some thai chinese leave thailand because they already have families overseas. Some marry foreigners who have a preference for chinese looking thais. I know one who ‘migrated’ to Singapore. He worked there and got his PR promptly.

There is however a heavy preponderance of white ‘farang’ who prefer brown skin thai girls. Brown skin (nam thaan) thai girls leave thailand because they run off with the farang to his homeland.

A british guy told me that some nam-thaan girls living in UK would congregate and talk about how they plan to milk the wealth from their husbands, and they would share stories of which bar they worked from. Most originated from the Issarn area up north .

Strong supporters of the red-shirt Peua Thai political party originate from the north. Generally they are brown skinned.

Yellow shirt party supporters are considered more elite. Of course, the elites are mainly from royal or thai chinese families. But it’s not as simple as that, because both parties are headed by thai chinese. Abhisit, yingluck’s predecessor, and opposition leader is also thai chinese.

Many farang don’t know Abhisit is thai chinese because he doesn’t look characteristally chinese. That’s where mixing of races blurs the lines. As they say, it’s no longer ‘black or white.’ But, yes, farang people in thailand do tend to simplify according to who is white, yellow (ie chinese) and malay/thai or indian. And they reinforce the stereotypes.

The lynchpin holding both political sides together is Thai royalty. But there have been challenges to the royal authority. The cynicism against thai royalty reminds me how some people are cynical toward the malaysian constitution (A153 especially). It’s an attack at the very foundation/core of the culture and country. To me, it’s a political challenge, but framed in a philosophical way as to appeal to foreign observers and grassroots supporters.

Foreigners have also picked a side. They like to criticize thai institution when they are dissatisfied. They want to criticise the king, but thai authorities have shown theyy are willing to punish foreigners who do, in order to assert their sovereignty.

Gogo bars are dotted throughout the city. No concept of ‘zoning’ the red light districts exists apparently. But this is probably one of the main reasons why investments keep coming back to thailand despite threats of violence, floods and political unrest. is the sex-trade what attracts investments and is it worth emulating? An arab-muslim enclave full of arab tourists is actually right across the road from a popular transgender gogo bar area. You can only speculate why.

As for other thai muslims, they are relegated to enclaves in bangkok such as in the outskirts (on nut , wong wian yai). If shopping malls and state of the art transportation systems are considered ‘development’, then the absence of such amenities in those areas means they are less ‘developed’ than other parts of bangkok.

They have mosques that broadcast azan in bangkok. One mosque i know is actually in close proximity to a trendy watering hole for foreigners. Sermons are in thai. I haven’t heard a single thai complain to me about muslim mosques. I contrast that with the malaysian chinese. I mentioned in another post how a thai chinese i know was willing to pray in a mosque. Unfortunately he prays in churches and temples too. I think he’s a pan-theist buddhist.

In bangkok, there are some women in the long hijab and some even wear face covering niqabs. They don’t appear often on the mass transit trains or skytrain. They tend to stay in the enclaves.

I’m actually going to leave thailand soon, and I just found out there is a muslim lady (sans hijab) in my office. She greeted me with ‘assalamuaikum,’ that’s howw i found out.

She asked if i ate pork and if i drank. I said if there isn’t any other choice. She then looked at me favorably. I guess she’s one of the few ‘progressive’ muslims [if there is such a thing] who managed to get hired by a foreign firm in thailand. Maybe she succeeded by hiding her true faith.

Considering the troubles in the south, and the bad press muslims tend to get, it’s no surprise sentiments towards muslims in thailand aren’t great. Despite that, thais are still very tolerant; they just won’t say anything about their discontentment.
Maybe that’s a theraveda buddhist thing. But, aren’t western countries like this too? In my experience yes. Many in western countriess claim they aren’t racist, but they do have racial/religious preferences and dislikes. This affects their decision-making, consciously or not.